**Disclaimer**

I wrote a post yesterday, talkin’ bout how I wanted to stay out of a twitter war, but something inside me still wanted to get this out. I still felt like I needed to explain myself. I shouldn’t have to… but here I am. Doing just that.

I wrote the post below, not long after I wrote yesterday’s post. But sat on it overnight… just to make sure… and because good bloggers always walk away, review and revise before posting.

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That said… I still wanted to write my original post regarding why I chose to partner with P&G as one of their newly minted Brand Ambassadors. Not that I should have to explain myself, but I thought it might be interesting for someone out there to understand why someone like me would choose to do this kind of thing.

In list form, if you will, because I haven’t done a list post in a while. And this is my blog. So there.

10 reasons why I’m changing it up on my blog.

1.Because this is my blog. And I can do what I want. So there.

Yes, it started off as a blog all about me, but as fascinating as I am, I should write about other things too, yes?

2.A career councillor once told me that to get the job I want I have to volunteer my time and energy getting experience in the field so that I can add it to my resume. So I have.

3.I do #2 (haha! “do #2” – potty humour ftw!) so that my resume will look great the day that I apply for that dream job.

4.Why do I want that dream job? So that the creative side of my brain doesn’t atrophy from lack of use. Honestly. My full-time job, while interesting and important, isn’t exactly where I thought I’d end up after 4 years of university and 2 years of college. I just sort of fell into it out of necessity. But dreams don’t die people, they just change focus.

5.Big Business may be using me for their own gains, but I’m using them too.

I saw the term “marketing pawn” being bandied about this weekend. They may be using me as their marketing bitch (and yes, I do work for toothpaste) but I’m using them too. All those free posts I’m going to write for them? Go straight into my portfolio. My blog. So that future employers can see that I work well with others.

6.And, yes, I work for toothpaste. And any other freebie that might come my way.

My family is on strict budget lockdown, necessitated by the massive (ie, as big as our rent) childcare bill. If I can bring in free household items that help us get by day-to-day, stuff I would buy anyways, then of course I’m going to do it. I’d be stupid not to. That free stuff (that I plan on claiming as income on my taxes btw – as you’re supposed to) will help us get though these lean times. All for an hour or two out of my week, time I would spend blogging anyways.

How is that any different from working a second job for a pay cheque? I work my full-time job, give them my time and expertise, they give me money, I buy toothpaste. Being a “brand ambassador” just cuts out the middleman. Same difference in my eyes.

As for fielding questions about the business practices of the brands I choose to work with? Sure I could spend all my time fielding those questions and getting ethical answers for you, but that’s not what they’re “paying” me for (and also, I don’t have that kind of spare time). You want answers? Go straight to the brand. They’ll tell you what you want to know.

My job as “brand ambassador” is to tell you about my experiences with their products. That’s what they asked me to do, that’s what I’m gonna do. If they wanted me to do more, they’d ask me. But they didn’t. So I don’t plan to. I’m comfortable working with them, and I sleep like a baby sleep-deprived mom at night. Do you?

7.My opinions are my own.

Just because I’m blogging product reviews, doesn’t mean I won’t tell the truth. And I don’t review anything that I wouldn’t normally use. So I don’t see the harm. They get free press, I get free product and a boost to my portfolio. Win – win. Don’t hate.

8.I’ve turned down plenty of review offers in the recent past.

100% of the time because they were for products or services that I didn’t use, would never use, were just not right for my family. It’s ok to say no. I said yes to the ones listed in #2 (poo! Ha! sorry, I have potty training on the brain…) because they’re a good fit for me, my family and my blog. In that order.

I’m not going to go around bashing a company because I don’t like their product/business/practices. That’s not the type of person that I am. My mother always told me if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. I support my stance by not buying/using products that I don’t agree with, and not blogging about them. Full stop. Besides, blogging/tweeting about companies I hate would just give them more publicity, wouldn’t it?

9.It’s nice to be invited to be part of something bigger than me.

I’m a small-time blogger with a small blog with a small readership. Small fry like me don’t often get the chance to be part of something big. I don’t look a gift horse in the mouth (what the heck does that even mean anyways!?!). Opportunity knocks, I answer.

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10 Responses to "**Disclaimer**"

Two thumbs all the way off. Usually when people knock your hustle its because they’re jealous. I don’t understand why anyone would feel the need to get on their high horse and knock what some one is doing on their blog. Don’t like it, move on to another blog. Enjoy your freebies!!

I’ll bite because I’m the wordy one. To ‘not look a gift horse in the mouth’ as an idiom means not to be ungrateful for a gift as you know. But it comes from old times in the event you were given a gift of a horse (or any animal) it was rude to inspect it. When horses get old their gums recede (hence the phrase ‘Long in the Tooth’), so a horse with less visible tooth was obviously younger and more desirable. The idea is that you should be grateful that you’re getting any horse as a gift and not worry about about the age (quality) of said horse (gift).

Now more related to the post. As long as you’re taking care of your family, no one else is getting hurt, and you’re not breaking any laws, do you. Everyone else can kick rocks.
🙂

And you know… it started off as people attacking big business, but came off as “I’m better than you, why are you working with that company, I’m gonna make you feel bad for chosing to work with them.” and people got really nasty. I just felt I had to weigh in. Also, sometimes it’s a good idea to just unfollow people. Lesson learned for me.

Let me just say, I am totally jealous! LOL I wanted to be one of the P&G Moms. I get many people don’t agree with them, but I think it’s to each their own, and you have to figure out what works for you.

I can’t believe how many people take the time out of their day to bring down others. I have blogged for tooth paste, toilet paper etc. I am the same as you, if I need it I will. If it’s not a product I currently use, but I think it has merit I will try it. But if I don’t think I would ever use that type of product I wouldn’t review it.